Beyond a Mystery
by Shiny Sealies
Summary: Follow the new student, Sage as he adapts to his new life at Cherryton High. His reputation as a gifted student takes a toll on the people he sees and meets. He is one of a kind student as his life begins to changes around him.
1. The Student of Tradegies

**Chapter 1: The Student of Tragedies**

* * *

Headmaster Gon meets Sage for the first time in person inside his office. He is happy to see the young wolf in front of him. Though Sage has a timid expression, Gon still tries his best to talk with him. Sage seems to be in no mood to speak to the headmaster, but he does bows down to show respect. Gon notes to himself that Sage is quite shy, he looks like he has little to no interest in speaking. "What's your name, young fellow?" the headmaster spoke.

Sage attempted to not make any eye contact. He later placed his hands together and twiddled his fingers. The little wolf began to speak. "M-my name is... S-Sage," he said with a very low-level voice. It was still audible by the headmaster since they are in front of each other. Their height differences are completely abnormal as Sage is quite shorter than the average grey wolf. He stood at a height of 5'5 while Headmaster Gon stood at comparable 5'10.

Gon was content with his arrival at Cherryton High. "Ah, the gifted student himself, Sage-san. It's a pleasure to meet you, I am the headmaster here at Cherryton High. We yield great results in our students." Headmaster Gon showed him around the school and explaining its regulations and expectations. He walked with Sage to the dorms, they were separated by two areas. One side was for male students, and the other was for female students. Gon showed him to his specific dorm where he had to share with someone he does not know. Sage felt nervous, as he lacks any social experience with anyone, that wasn't his family. Gon remembered earlier about Sage, but he said to embrace the experience once and he'll get used to it. Gon knocked on the dorm's door and another student appeared in front.

The student saw the headmaster and bowed, "Good morning, headmaster." The student allowed Headmaster Gon and Sage inside. "You will be sharing a dorm room with another student."

His roommate is a brown-furred dog and showed his hand to Sage, he was expecting a handshake. "Hey, it's nice to meet ya." Sage had no idea what that hand gesture meant, and stayed silent. "You don't do handshakes? That's alright," as he slid his hand to brush his fur back. He went back to cleaning the room before tomorrow began.

Gon explained the issue, "Sage is quite the shy fellow. I hope your behavior does not affect his stable behavior negatively." He acknowledged that statement. "The new school semester starts tomorrow, make sure you are not late to your first day, Sage." Gon left back to his office.

Sage took off his shoes at the entrance and sat on his side of the room. It was in complete silence as none of the two wanted to speak. Sage sat on the bed and opened up his books to see what he had to do. He wasn't interested in any social conversations with his roommate. Mainly he kept up with his studies and leisure reading. Sage got up from his bed and left to explore the school on his own. He was halted at the door by his roommate when he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hey," he said and Sage turned toward him. "I never said my name, I am Ryoma. What is your name?" Ryoma waited for a response.

The wolf fully turned around and finally spoke to him once. "S-Sage." Sage turned back around to open the door. Ryoma noticed that Sage is quite a nervous person, but he knows that he will change eventually. "Alright, have fun now, I'll still be cleaning the room up." Sage left the dorm room to continue exploring before tomorrow.

Everything that he already experienced was changing faster than he could adjust. His one-day before school was already affecting how his thoughts would change when he met someone else. Where would he start was the question. Sage was already outside the dormitories and walked on the pathway towards the school's entrance. He was later ambushed by a much larger random student out of nowhere and pushed Sage onto the ground and started yelling at him. "What are you going to do about it, nerd?" The bully began to beat Sage and his glasses came off. Sage could not see a thing and could not defend himself anymore. "Beating you up is like my personal fun time hobby." It sounded like a first-year student who came to settle down on campus. From the sounds of his voice, it was a masculine tiger as Sage heard.

"Stop it, please!" Sage pleaded. His cries did not convince the bully to stop his attacks. There was nobody in the halls to witness the attack. The bully kept hitting, kicking and punching Sage until he was bruised up. He asked for Sage's money, but he didn't have any on him. "Looks like someone is about to get beaten up." He was about to throw another punch when someone grabbed his arm.

He turned around and looked at another wolf who was much stronger and bigger than him. "That's enough," his voice was gentle and kind. He intervened in the situation and stopped the bully. "Pick on someone your own size," he shouted. The bully felt no remorse for his actions. He was just happy to be able to attack someone innocent for the first time. The tall wolf crouched down and gave his hand to Sage. "Hey, are you alright?"

Sage grabbed his hand and thanked him. "Y-yes, I am alright." He got up and dusted himself from the ground. Sage bowed down to the wolf, "T-thank you, wolf-san," he replied nervously.

"The name is Legoshi, you must be a first-year student here, right?" the tall wolf said. He then noticed his glasses have fallen to the side of him. "Oh, that guy must have knocked these off." Legoshi picked them up and handed them back. "Here you go," Legoshi mentioned that this is his second year at Cherryton High. This was another one of those incidents he encountered multiple times today. That bully he scared off was the same one who attacked 2 other individuals, Legoshi asserted. "You'll be alright, he won't come back for you again."

"Thank you again, Legoshi-senpai." He quickly introduced himself, "My name is Sage." Sage kept to himself that Legoshi wasn't that bad of a person, and was very opened toward him.

Legoshi was in shock to hear the name. He felt sort of, happy to hear and see the person in front of him. "Your name, Sage-kun, I hear it all the time on the media." Sage's face went from a gloomy to a gratified expression. Someone at this school already knows who he is and he is happy to have met them. "Do you oftentimes get bullied for your intellect?" Legoshi wondered.

He nodded his head as a response. Not a very talkative kind of person, Legoshi thought. Sage probably doesn't get much social interaction with other students because of bullying. "I've noticed that you do not like to speak a lot, is that your normal behavior, Sage-kun?"

"I-I grew up only speaking to my siblings," he said while putting his hands into his pockets. Sage was not used to this much social interaction and admitted that talking to Legoshi is the most he ever had from outside of his family. He was honest and thanked him for talking to him for this long. Normally, he would have just left immediately after the incident he just had if Legoshi hadn't been there. "I am grateful that you showed up, you remind me of someone I used to know."

Legoshi looked back with a confused stare. It struck his curiosity, "Who would that be?"

Sage replied, "My oniisan, Damien." Sage went on to explain his times before now. "Damien was always there to protect me whenever I went to school and back home. One day, I was being beaten up by bullies because of my imperfect traits and behaviors as a wolf. I had no intention of allowing my carnivorous instincts out and I cared about my homework and such. When I was born, I have extremely poor eyesight for a wolf and had to wear these large round glasses which everyone thinks looks silly." Probably one reason why he wasn't considered a threat or an issue by many. Which also concluded why he was bullied by many other students. Sage continues, "Damien walked with me to school and stayed by my side until we got back home safely from those bullies." Sage compared Legoshi as his older brother. They did something quite similar just now, he realized. One, Legoshi intervened to stop the bully and two, helped him back up onto his feet as Damien did. Unfortunately, his story turned down a dark path one day as he continued to speak.

Legoshi interrupted, but he was quite attracted to the story. He didn't want to be on school grounds to listen to it. He wanted to show Sage around certain places as they talked about the same story. "Let's go somewhere while you tell me your story, Sage-kun." They crossed the streets and strolled through the city.

Sage had agreed and walked with Legoshi to a nice place. He started back where he left off when they passed by a bookstore, "Oniisan, one day started to become ill and he was unable to walk or even stand up. He clung to his bed and eventually became bedridden with an unknown sickness. Oneesan had called doctors over to diagnoise what the problem that was occurring. They said his health was declining and causing his movements to be impaired and he couldn't recover." Sage began to tear up while saying the story. His voice began to shake and break apart trying to speak to Legoshi. "I-I stayed by his side while he was dying, I-I didn't want him to leave me, but he told me one thing. He said the reason that I am not strong is that I lack faith in myself. Those were the final words he told me before his passing." Sage wiped the tears out from his eyes and apologized for crying.

Legoshi patted the young wolf on his back and declared that the apology was unnecessary. "It's alright, Sage-kun, I am here for you. C'mon, let's get something that will cheer you up. There is always room for happiness in life, your life at school will change your expressions a lot."

"T-Thank you, Legoshi-senpai. It means a lot to me." Sage exclaimed happily. "I remembered Damien's words and took them for granted. I've never met my parents but I stayed by my siblings' sides for as long as I can. They meant a lot to me growing up." Sage and his older siblings were orphans growing older, they stayed by each other's sides for many years growing up to create a bond between them. "Damien acted like a guardian and my oneesan, Rikku was my mentor growing up. She taught me all the basics and I took it for granted."

Legoshi smiled, "So Rikku-san, she was the one who got you to where you are now?"

Sage nodded and responded, "Yeah, I am very thankful for oneesan for gifting me her knowledge. She suddenly disappeared one day when I came home from school, I never saw or heard from her again." His life as a child was filled with tragedies; never met his parents, his brother died from an unknown illness and his sister has vanished mysteriously. He has admitted to living with these troubles but has gotten over the majority of it over the past years. "I'm sorry for making such a sad scene, forgive me, Legoshi-senpai."

Legoshi placed his hand on top of Sage's shoulder. "Nonsense, they are great stories, it's something good to remember others by. Everyone holds a story deep inside of them that they normally don't tell anyone, but this is an exception." Legoshi took a deep breath and narrated, "Around last year, there was a student by the name of Tem. He was an alpaca from our drama club who was murdered by one of our classmates. He was a good friend, and he had his everlasting moments at school." Legoshi remembered them quite well. "I remember delivering his love letter to someone he once liked, her name is Els and she was quite happy to read the letter."

After telling each other of their stories, they finally arrived at the place Legoshi was going to. Legoshi showed him inside, they saw a lot of people but Legoshi went to a specific part. "Sage-kun, this place serves food and bubble tea. You'll definitely love it here, and you will meet new people." He showed him the way to a certain table where there were more people. "Sage-kun, meet your new friends."

The look on Sage's face was very priceless as he could not contain his joy. The people he saw were happy to see and hear from the special student. They gathered around and saw a new addition to their friend group. Sage was happy to have his reserved nature to be beaten by good people. He met the close friend of Legoshi, Jack. He was very pleased to meet Sage for the first time. "Hello, I am Jack, nice to meet you, Sage-san." Jack held out his right hand toward Sage but just like earlier he didn't know what it meant. "You never performed a handshake once? Let me demonstrate to show you."


	2. The School Semester Begins

**Chapter 2: The School Semester Begins**

* * *

Sage got up earlier than Ryoma did. Generally, students don't normally arise at this time. He looked at the clock and it was about 07:00, it was quite early as the first class begins at 9. Sage quickly cleaned his bed and cleaned himself up before leaving the dorm. _I wonder what they serve for food in the morning and later times? _He left immediately after equipping his glasses onto his eyes. Sage strolled out onto the pathway looking for either Legoshi or Jack. Luckily, that bully wasn't there to harm him in any way possible. He was glad that Legoshi was there to save him. Otherwise, Sage would believe this school was terrible.

He walked up the stairs and opened the doors when he collided with another student. Unfortunately, they both fell but Sage was rolling down the stairs. Poor Sage, as he was having a rough start to such a good day. The student in front of him apologized for her brute force against him. "Excuse me, I am very sorry. I was lost in my own thoughts that I wasn't looking forward to." Her voice was a gentle kind, one that soothed Sage a bit. Sage looked up to see a young female wolf about his age greet himself in a polite manner. She had offered her hand to him to help him off. "Pardon me about what just happened, I didn't notice someone else would be behind the door," she said apologetically and affectionately.

Sage took her hand and started to feel a bit strange. Her hand was very soft and had a nice feeling to Sage. "T-that's alright, t-thank you," he replied. His dim grey eyes made contact with her bright blue eyes. Sage felt a special connection between this girl and himself that he never felt before. "O-oh, H-hi, what's your name?" he said shyly.

She gave an expression of surprise as it is shown on her face, "Oh, I've seen you before." The young female wolf was very pleased to see Sage in person. "Your name is Sage, the gifted student who transferred from overseas. I've heard a lot about you since junior high. Since I already know a lot about you, I guess introductions about yourself are not necessary. My name is Juno, I am a first-year student."

He bowed down, "I-I am also a first-year student," Sage replied. He was glad to know that there was more than just one first-year attending that was not Ryoma, his roommate. "J-Juno-san, it's good to meet you." he shook her hands and bowed down respectfully again. "I-I hope we can be good friends soon," he said.

Juno replied with the same statement, "That's a promise, Sage-san." They parted ways with each other and Sage walked inside the school building. Sage analyzed the school itself and was amazed by the interior design and decoration. He spotted some potted flowers next to each of the windows down the hallways. It applied to almost every window in the school building. There must have been a gardening club or a florist somewhere in this school, he thought to himself. He continued down the hallway to spot the Cafeteria and then the Library. "_I wonder, do they have books on most subjects here? I'd like to check one out._" Sage later went straight into the Cafeteria to see what was going on.

There was chatter coming from many students ranging from first to third years. They talked amongst their selves and with other new pupils that showed up. He could hear every small detail in most of the conversations that were going on. But then he ignored every single one except for one that was calling his name. "Sage!" he heard and turned his head toward the direction of the calling. There was Jack waving his arms to grab his attention. "Sage, come over here," he commanded.

He started walking over there in a timely manner and sat next to Jack at one of the tables. "Good morning, Sage-kun, how was last night?"

"Eh, it was... fun while it lasted," he thanked them for inviting him over with their other friends. Courtesy of Legoshi to offer him a chance. "W-where's Legoshi-senpai?"

"Legoshi? Oh, I actually think he overslept. He told me to wake him up this morning, but I guess he is more of a heavy sleeper than I remembered." Jack took Sage over to their dorm room and he saw two bunk beds. The top bed's coverings were opened meaning that Legoshi had to be on the bottom bed. Jack slightly opened the curtains and poked Legoshi's cheeks to see any reaction from him. "Legoshhiiii, wake up." Jack lightly slapped his face but he still remained asleep. "This happens often, it's very hard to wake him up." Legoshi started to snore, showing signs that he was deep into his sleep.

Sage took over and had a peek at Legoshi's body. He knew there was something to trigger something inside his body to wake him up instantly. "I have an idea, though I'm not sure if it's okay to even do on him." He whispered to Jack to help carry him onto the floor and away from his bed. Jack wondered why but he did not ask questions. They set Legoshi on the rugged floor and Sage went into the restroom with an empty cup. The faucet was running with water and then it went silent. Sage came out with a cup of water in his hands. "This happens a lot in my family." Sage quickly splashed the cup of water into Legoshi's face and he instantly woke up from his slumber screaming for a bit.

The cool water had shocked his body with fear as his reaction to the cold temperature shook him awake. "What was that for?" he yelled. Legoshi's fur was soaking wet and the cool air temperature made him shiver slightly faster than normal.

Sage ignored Legoshi and turned to Jack. "My siblings would always splash water on any who overslept past a certain time and we eventually got used to it permanently." Sage had grabbed a towel and gave it to Legoshi. "We didn't want you to be late for school, but you also were not waking up properly. Forgive me, Legoshi-senpai." Sage lent a hand to Legoshi.

Legoshi began to dry off his fur and took his hand. "Next time, don't do that. That's alright." He went to change into a proper uniform for school.

Sage bowed, "My apologies, I will not do that again, Legoshi-senpai." They hurried on over to school for breakfast. Sage never knew about the specials here since he admits to eating different things. "I've learned to eat what's given, my sister and I have grown accustomed to eating even herbivore foods at some point. I thought it was strange at first until it started to alter my senses and become more neutral to herbivores."

Jack thought that to be strange, but he didn't want to be weird about it and left it alone. "So um, Sage-kun, what do you do as a hobby anyway?"

He turned to his backpack and pulled out a book on detective works. It was called _Evidential Crime Scenes,_ "I checked this out earlier today. So to answer your question, I like to read books in my spare time since I don't do much like a normal student, Jack-senpai." He mentioned one chapter of the book talked about what crime scenes were like in realtime and was fascinated by them. It was strange to Jack because there were crimes outside and inside of school like Tem's death. He doesn't like to mention any sort of death since it leaves a grim feeling behind his neck. "I won't talk about it if you are uncomfortable about it, I know students do not like to see bad things, Jack-senpai." Sage apologized, but Jack said it was alright.

Sage turned to Legoshi and asked what he did after school or in his leisure time. "Uh..." he started to scratch his head. "Well, I'm part of the drama club but mainly for stage crew. It's mostly just technical work and cleaning. Nothing much for myself. The other students are very talented with their dances and acting, like Louis-senpai and Ellen-san." He wondered if Sage was into any other activity besides studying to understand if he had any potential.

It merely shocked Sage since he was a very reserved wolf. A poor choice of personality for wolves since they were often seen as brave dogs. He started to shake his hands and arms to the side, showing denial. "N-no way, Legoshi-senpai. I can't do any of that, I am too scared to do anything like those people."

Legoshi grinned, "You never know, you could be one of the best actors inside of you." Sage continued to deny anything Legoshi said, but he replied to at least come later in the afternoon to practice a bit or try at least. They ate their breakfast and hurried on toward their first classes. This was where they parted ways until the afternoon came. Legoshi and Jack left for their classes since they had it together. Sage went another direction because his class was somewhere else or in the opposite direction of Legoshi and Jack.

There were quite a handful of students inside the classroom Sage was attending. He normally does not see more than 28 students in a class. There were more than 40 students inside this classroom, alphabetized by their names. He was set closer to the back of the classroom since his letter was S. It was quite far away from the teacher's board to him since he doesn't have good eyesight. Sage hoped that wasn't something that would affect his grades or status in this class. He took out a notebook and pen and placed them on his portion of the table. He then set his backpack underneath his chair and waited for class to start.

Someone was behind him and tapped on his shoulders. "Hey there," they said.

Sage turned around to see the same girl wolf from earlier. "Oh, Juno-san? I-is that your name right?" He was afraid of mistaking people name's the moment they were introduced to each other.

Juno nodded, "Hiya, Sage-kun, it's nice to see you in the same class as me." Juno sat in the seat next to him, though it wasn't hers. She will move the moment class begins, she said. "It's quite far from where sensei is, can you really see that far?" Sage felt as his glasses would hold him back, but he didn't mind because he has good hearing. He replied back saying there is no con where he sits. "I understand," Juno said.

The teacher of the class walked inside as students began to take their seats. He noticed the misplaced Juno out of her seat. "Excuse me, ma'am, are you suppose to be sitting there?"

She got up and apologized, "I'm sorry, I was talking to a friend." Juno began walking back to her assigned seat when the teacher said it was fine as long as they weren't distracting each other in the future. So assigned seating didn't matter but excelling on the assignments did.

"That's alright, I don't really mind where anyone sits as long as you do well on your homework, quizzes, and exams." He turned around and wrote down simple math problems. That was when everyone began to solve them individually. But for Sage, he started to have weird thoughts that were abnormal for himself.

* * *

**_A day earlier, location unknown_**

A wolf and a lion fought against each other in order to get something out of the other. One was a feminine wolf and the other was a masculine lion. Her claws were sharp like knives ready to cut open fruits with ease. "Tell me the truth, I know you are a murderer to herbivores. I know it was you who killed my friend, just admit it." She leaped forward and attempted to claw her way inside of the lion's mind, but his reactions were faster. He rolled out of the way to dodge the incoming attack. The lion began to laugh at the wolf for her feeble attempt at killing him. "I can't believe I got caught up in this mess, if only _you _knew about what happened, little bro, I'm sorry for all the confusion and fear you felt on that day." the wolf mumbled.

The lion took her dozed off distraction to his advantage. "What? Talking to yourself at a time like this?" He punched her jaw and followed up with a kick into her stomach. "We aren't looking to kill carnivores, we aim to kill herbivores. Where are you getting with this?" The wolf flew back into the wall and collided with the solidity of stones and bricks.

The lion admitted that his purpose had only angered the female wolf as she remembered her older friend was once herbivores and alive. She smelled the aroma coming off the lion, wolves were good for sensing different smells. _This scent, on that day, **she** was murdered by a strange group because I saw a **certain symbol** of their doing. This scent is the exact scent as her's. This bastard is the one who killed her, I know it_. She fixed her jaw and her instincts jumped into her feral mode as she was extremely pissed off and enraged. She got herself off the hard material and charged straight into the lion. She gotten low to the ground and swept kicked the floor with her leg and knocked the lion off balance and onto the ground. She got on top of the lion and started to punch his face left and right. "You give off a familiar scent of someone I once knew. Her name was Aurelia, she was a deer and a close friend to my little brother and me when we were struggling in those harsh times."

He started to cough blood out his mouth and laughed simultaneously. "Hah," ***Cough*** "YOU, friends with a herbivore as a carnivore? Don't make me laugh. Carnivores like us are supposed to kill herbivores and eat them. That's just how life works, you know?" The wolf punched him again and again until he was swelling up and could not speak.

"My name is Rikku, and I found her dead at the park when I left her alone," she explained. It was her number one regret leaving her alone at night where her sight is drastically reduced. She could not bear the sight of her dead body hidden near one of the bushes where almost nobody would spot it. "Aurelia's unique smell led me to her to that spot and that's when I saw everything. Lives work differently for those who are not strong." Rikku grabbed his shirt and brought him up to her head level. "I remember it quite well, and you will tell me the name of your organization," she placed her claws next to his face. "Or I will claw your damn eyes out slowly and painfully."

"I'll tell you, cause what's the point if you can't even face _all of us at once_, you psychopath," he replied. "Shishigumi, we consist of over thirty lions. You won't be able to stop all of us alone."

Rikku gave a slight smirk, "You'll regret saying that," she grabbed his wallet and checked his ID card. "Leon. What a typical name for a lion." Rikku took the money and threw the card into his face. She then kicked his head once more and knocked him unconscious. He had passed out on the spot, lucky for Rikku that he is not dead. There were more people who heard fighting from another area. Rikku quickly fled the scene and successfully escaped without any trouble. There were more lions who showed up to see that one of their own was knocked down and beaten. They knew someone had infiltrated their hideout and targeted one person. Quickly, they took Leon for recovery and notified each other of the incident. The Shishigumi were in for a rough time if they don't find and kill Rikku. "Shishigumi, one of the criminal organizations in the black market. I'll be sure to pay close attention to whatever they will do." _I'm gonna report back to Gouhin for the night. He will be glad to have something to look forward too._

* * *

A/N: The name Sage means a wise and knowledgeable person. I pick this name because I wanted a student who has high intelligence. As for character type/species, another grey wolf seems to be kind of strange for someone with such wits. Anywho, I hope you like/enjoy this story now and in the future.


	3. That Strange Feeling

**Chapter 3: That Strange Feeling**

* * *

_Later that morning_,

Sage continued to have this weird feeling in his mind during his class session. Something that is abnormal to his thinking and sociability. It was a skill he lacked when he was younger since he was always bullied and forced to isolate himself from other students. He never met his two parents and only his elder siblings, Damien and Rikku. Juno tapped on his shoulder to check on him, "Are you alright? You've been staring into your paper with no expression for a long time."

He shook his head, "O-oh, I am alright, Juno-san. Don't worry about me, let's try to finish up before class ends." Sage didn't want the teacher to think they were distractions to each other. He looked back into his paper and read the last questions he had left. They were not all that difficult since sensei said they were starting off with memory refresher questions.

**Question #5**

_What is "x" in this equation?_

**4x 7 = 23**

This question was a breeze since all he had to do was isolate x from the other numbers. He subtracted 7 to 23 to cancel out the positive seven on the left. The total number had been altered and was left with 16. "_Now we divide both sides by 4 to cancel out the four on the left and divide 16 by 4. Therefore, we should get x is 4 as our final answer. That shouldn't be so hard now._"

**Bonus Question #1**

_What is your name and what are your personal hobbies?_

Sage began to write down his own name after the question. Then he proceeded to think about his hobbies, there was nothing interesting he would do. Except for when Legoshi asked that he should participate in the drama club. Maybe he would put that down, and he continued to think about it. Sage twirled his pen thinking about what to write down, there seem to be many good choices. He could write that he enjoys reading the works in textbooks or other writings from many books that he read about. Especially that one book on crime scenes was one of his enjoyments. Sage wrote down whatever he thought was correct because this question did not have any wrong answers. It was sort of a freebie kind of question for a free point.

The class bell rang thus ending the class time and they proceeded toward their next classes. "What do you have next, Sage-kun?" Juno asked wondering about his class schedules.

He replied, "I have Literature, then Biology and finally History." Sage questioned why she had asked for his schedule.

Juno answered his question, "I wanted to know what classes you have because I also have the same classes in that order."

It was kind of a shock to Sage because he was gonna see Juno all day and every day. "_How lucky is that?_" he thought to himself. Though he felt a bit troubled by some odd feeling he could not comprehend. This was one of those times he had where he speaks to someone other than his siblings. Hopefully, his mental thinking does not affect his studies and continues to do good in school. The two continue onward to the next set of classes they were in.

* * *

_Gouhin's Lab_

Rikku made it back to Gouhin's lab safely with the news of Shishigumi. "I've learned the hideout's location and the answer to my friend's death. We should watch out in this section of the black market." She wanted to go back and kill the rest of them. Rikku pulled out knives from her back pocket pouch and carefully touched the sharp parts of it. "Gouhin-sama, we should strike while we still can. They don't know about us."

Gouhin took a bite out of a bamboo stalk. "You clearly are reckless, is the only thing on your mind just revenge for your dead friend? I mean seriously think about what you are doing. I did not find you passed out in the open in the black market just to have you mercilessly killing people who attacked and killed your friend." He wasn't happy with the choices that she was making. He was much older and understood the world better than she did. "Look, life is harsh out in a world like this. Take a good gander at yourself and think about what you are doing."

Her only purpose was to find the murderer and then finding her little brother. Gouhin tried to steer her away from trouble. "Rikku-san, think about what you are doing, putting your life at risk and think about your family. Didn't you tell me that you had a little brother? What would he think if he found you again, either dead or a murderer." Rikku was not phased by Gouhin's words and stormed out the lab. She didn't care about Gouhin's sympathy and set off into the black market. "God, that girl, she is a strange one, but things are just gonna happen for a reason." _Life's wonders work in strange ways. She's like that kid, but way more out of control if she doesn't keep herself in check. Legoshi, I think that is what his name was._

* * *

Time: 14:00 or 2:00 P.M

The class was just finishing up as Sage preparing to leave for the day. He asked his teacher one last question before leaving, "Sensei? What will be on the quiz later this week?" Sage was given a review sheet to study before Friday hits. Sage bow to the teacher and left through the doors. He analyzed the paper and saw every single question. _It's not so bad to study all of these again. Biology has a lot of things to cover, this year will be an interesting one. _He continued to read the paper as he walked down the hallway back to his dorm.

Juno was walking in another direction and saw him walking alone. She decided to have a small conversation with him. Juno tapped on his shoulders. "Sage-kun? Where are you going?"

Sage glanced over to Juno and saw her curiosity in her eyes. "I-I am going back to my dorm. Do you need anything?"

She nodded her head, "No, but I was wondering if you are in the drama club?"

"I am not apart of anything, Juno-san, but a friend told me about it and I should go anyways." He replied. "I _was _planning on going back to my dorm, but you mentioned the drama club so I will go there." Sage was quite nervous about meeting other people, but Juno was always delighted to see new faces. They were quite opposites of each other. Juno is more opened and energetic while Sage was more reserved and nervous. He really didn't want to go but Juno insisted that he should be there.

Juno grabbed his hand and rushed on over to the drama club. "Come on, Sage-kun. It will be fun to meet all of the new people there."

He felt the warmth coming off of Juno's hand and onto his hand. _This feeling in my hand, I've never actually felt someone else's hand and especially a girl wolf's hand. What is this feeling that I am having_? He might have to deal with her the entire year. Maybe he would understand that Juno will be the one who he opens up too. Sage was trying to keep up with Juno as she was much faster than he was. "Slow down, Juno-san!" Sage yelled. He came close to bumping into multiple people as everyone watched the two wolves rushing through.

"Okay, if you say so," she giggled and listened to his request. Juno allowed him to catch his breath before moving on. "Oh my, you must have not been good at any athletics have you?"

Sage panted, "I was... always an indoors... person, Juno-san." His breathing began to slow down as his heartbeat was normalizing. "Oneesan said I had a choice between going out and staying inside. I always stayed indoors to study and read novels on detectives."

They were close to the drama club room when Juno was tugged on by a female sloth. Juno looked down and greeted her. "Hiya," she waved.

The sloth was happy to see Juno answer to her. It was the first time that anyone ever listened, she admitted. "Can you help me to the restroom?" Juno knew she was running out of time, she was gonna be late for practice. She decided to help the sloth anyway. Juno picked up the sloth and told Sage to go ahead without her.

Sage was bewildered by her choice of being late. "But what about being tardy? Don't you think that will affect your time?"

All she did was smile, "Don't worry about me, I'll find something to make up for it. I am not afraid of missing a little bit of time." She hurried onward to the restroom to fulfill the Sloth's request.

She left Sage alone to enter the drama room by himself. He did remember that Legoshi was going to be showing up but not Jack since he was not apart of the drama club. _Here goes... nothing... _Sage touched the door handle and froze up. _Oh my god, I can't go in. _His right arm was shaky and his hands were sweating. The pressure of meeting new people got into his head as he didn't go anywhere. He took his left hand and tried to calm his right hand, but it only made his left hand start to shake. Sage backed out from the door and reassured himself to just go in and nothing would happen. He tried one more time and placed his hand on the door and tried to open it. His arm would not budge and he stopped for the final time. "I can't do it, I am scared of seeing new people. How is it that people like Legoshi, Jack and Juno are able to do such a thing," he mumbled.

"That's because they grow as people and accept the new future that awaits them," said a voice down the hall. His footsteps were light as he wore dress shoes. Sage looked down the hall to see a deer merely the same height as him. The deer was confident in himself and approached Sage. "I've seen you before, the ingenious student, Sage. You were the one who made perfect scores on every exam that existed as the youngest student." They made eye contact with each other and then it went silent. "Not a very talkative person are you?"

Sage shook his head, "W-well, I never met many people before. I a-avoid seeing a lot of people. It makes me nervous because of my social anxiety." He brought up a memory about this deer. "I have seen you before, y-your name is, L-Louis?"

The deer smiled, "Right you are, where have you heard this name?"

"There were pictures a-and posters of you everywhere I-I went to the city when I first showed up. Louis, the famous actor at Cherryton High." Sage explained. Everyone who saw him liked his abilities as an actor and that boosted Louis' reputation as a deer. He was going to run for Beastar and ascend at the top.

Louis was impressed, "I'm glad that we both know each other and don't have to introduce ourselves but to let the other say so." He noticed that Sage never actually walked in but stood outside feeling scared. "Sage, why are you standing out here, come inside."

Sage was afraid to walk inside and admitted that to Louis. "I'm sorry, Louis-senpai, but I can't. I don't know about seeing many faces."

Louis slightly grinned, "You are quite troublesome, come. It won't kill you." Louis opened the doors and the room's light escaped into the hallway. Everyone looked and saw Louis walked inside and then turned around. He showed his hand out to Sage. "C'mon boy, there is nothing to be afraid of here. There are friendly faces here and nothing will happen to you. You have my word," he said.

The young wolf slowly made his way into the light and everyone saw who he was. Most of them knew him as the mysterious gifted student and others noticed his quiet behavior. Even mumbling to each other about his silence. They surrounded him and stared into his eyes. They were quite happy to see a new face show up since he was a first-year student. "H-hi t-there, I a-am Sage." He spoke his first words to his new classmates.

There was a Bengal tiger who barged into the group surrounding Sage. "What's up, Sage, I'm Bill. Are you a new actor here?"

Sage saw Bill's stature and felt a little frightened by him. He didn't answer him because of that. "Back off, Bill, you are scaring him," said a familiar voice. Legoshi showed up to see Sage. "Welcome Sage-kun, I'm glad that you made it." He was very happy for him to show up on the first day.

"Legoshi!" Sage exclaimed. Everyone was quite surprised that Sage knew Legoshi and was the first. He asked to go lower to whisper into his ears. Legoshi kneeled down until he was in a suitable height for him. "_I'm too nervous to talk can you help me out?_"

Legoshi smiled, he didn't have any issue helping out. He got back up and stood straight. "Everyone, this is Sage. He is quite surprised to see everyone here and is a little afraid of being around this many people. I would advise personally speaking to him in smaller quantities rather than larger ones."

It, fortunately, helped him out a lot as he met everyone in smaller proportions. He met third-year students such as Shira, Dom, and Tao who were experienced in what they did. Shira is the lead choreographer, Dom is apart of the stage crew and Tao takes part as an actor. Sage thought of Shira as a kind leopard who wanted his experience to be a good and enjoyable one. Dom told him the ropes of being a stage crew member, working with the technical things like the lights and curtains for instance. Tao offered the choice to be an actor at the cost of some time to practice getting better. He did not know what to choose, but he decided to stick with stage crew because he could tune things to the best of his ability. Dom was happy to see his enthusiasm. "There are a lot of things you need to know, Sage-san," Dom explained to him. Like Legoshi, Dom believed that he had the potential to be an actor only that he refused due to his scared nature.

They walked to another area higher up where there were lights and other cables. Dom explained what was needed, "During our practice, we use these lights to demonstrate to the actors and dancers what the lighting will be like." The peacock pointed over to some switches on the side. "Those over there will change how the room will look and it's similar to how the stage's buttons work as well." They could dim the lights, turn the spotlights on and off and even adjust some minor things. "For now, we need to do some maintenance because the lights have been looking darker than usual lately. If you can help us out with that issue I will be very grateful, Sage-san."

Sage politely nodded, "Y-yes, Dom-senpai, I will fix it right away." He began to inspect the lenses to see if any residue or marks were on each spotlight. However, he started to recall what he remembered back in Math 1 with his weird thinking. _I never felt that strange when I met all of these people, was it something beforehand? I'll talk to someone about it later on, or... I can solve that issue on my own._

His thoughts were interrupted a few moments later as the door to the drama club opened up. Everyone looked and saw that Juno had finally arrived. "Sorry I'm late everybody, I had to help a sloth to the restroom," she said. All she did was smile to break the negativity. "I'll make up for it by cleaning after practice!" she replied. Juno spotted Legoshi again after her encounter with him the other day. "Legoshi!"

"Hello, Juno-san," Legoshi answered.

Everything went around Sage's mind and his thoughts were starting to pile into his mind, "_Juno... the time she held my hand made me feel strange about her. Legoshi seems to know about her a lot, maybe I should talk to him later about it, just maybe..._"

* * *

A/N: I actually got pretty confused when it came to the third-year leopard named Shelia/Shira/Shiira, however, her name is spelled. Moving on this chapter is aimed at allowing Sage to interact with multiple people he meets in the future. Sage has not gotten much social interaction when he was a young child because he was bullied a lot for his looks. He looked like a nerd because of the glasses, he has poor eyesight. After getting bullied a lot, he was more afraid of seeing people and isolated himself from others except for his siblings.

Short Backstory: Sage never met his parents and only his older siblings who helped stir him in the right direction for life.

For those of you reading these, I hope you enjoyed reading them and finding out what happens next to Sage. If you have questions, I may be able to answer them in the reviews.


	4. Afternoon Practice

**Chapter 4: Afternoon Practice**

* * *

Only an hour into practice, Sage had finished up with the work on the technical things. Even though he has never seen nor touched any technological equipment in his life. It was plain and simple to him since there were books on these kinds of things. He quickly cleaned up and went over to Dom. "D-Dom-senpai, I am done with the equipment and things here."

Dom was impressed, "Ah, thank you, Sage-san." He rubbed his furry head. "I've been having trouble the past day trying to fix up the lights. Glad to see that you take it very seriously, there are not many students like you." Dom suggested to him to take a break or talk with the other members to get to know them. Sage agreed and went down to the lower floor. He climbed down and saw Bill standing in front of him.

Sage was scared and remain silent and still. Bill's figure was a bit frightening to look at as a younger student. Despite both being carnivores, Sage feared almost anyone. "Look, kid, I'm not here to scare you or anything. I just want to talk, you know have a small chat," Bill stated.

The young wolf nodded. "O-okay, Bill."

Bill questioned why he was afraid of him at first. "Does something about me bother you?" Bill said he wasn't intentionally trying to scare people. He isn't the type of person to purposely hurt others. Was it his big figure or his muscular looks?

"N-no, there isn't a-anything. It's just that I was beaten up by someone of your species, tiger." Sage replied. The sight of seeing a tiger makes him think they are dangerous.

Bill understood quite well, "I see that someone in my species has done the unthinkable, maybe we'll find them and get them back as payback."

Sage shook his head, "Legoshi took care of it for me. It won't happen again because Legoshi is kind and strong like you. I don't see anything bad about you or him." He adjusted his glasses and inspected Bill thoroughly. _That bully was much shorter than Bill and his physique is smaller. _Sage thanked Bill for talking to him and he moved on toward other things. Bill was glad to leave a good impression of himself to Sage.

He met up with the other students, other second years and third years. The next in line was Kibi, an anteater who was working on a small project for another class but isn't distracting enough. Sage got closer to him and Kibi was slightly startled. "Ah! Oh, it's you, the new member with Juno-san. I believe your name is Sage?"

Sage sat on the floor next to him and apologized for the scare. "Excuse me for that, and yes I am Sage."

Kibi was happily excited, "So the rumors are true, the only perfectly smart student. How are you doing?"

He scratched his head, "W-well... I am doing alright for the first day being here. I am not used to an environment with many other students. I am always by myself whenever I have free time. Legoshi told me to come along to see if I would enjoy being here." The results were quite fine since he has met a small handful of people. Mainly the older and experienced students because they have tips to showcase. "What are you working on, Kibi-san?"

"A little project, nothing relevant to anything here though," he responded. Kibi took a screwdriver and begun to tweak out the minor things about this project.

Sage was curious but respected his privacy. "I-If you need help, I-I can help you?"

Kibi thanked him but politely declined since this was his own thing. "Thanks for offering. I think other students are willing to talk to you, Sage-san."

Sage nodded and got up from the floor. He looked over towards two female herbivore students. One was a zebra and the other was an angora goat. They were mumbling about him and he wanted to listen to them without them knowing. Sage moved to an area further from his spot but close enough to listen to their chatter. His ears rose and he closed his eyes and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He heard every single word that they had said about him.

"I_ cannot believe the student known as Sage is a grey wolf, Els-chan. He is a carnivore and he is smart which is dangerous because he can plan out when he will eat us. I heard rumors from other herbivores saying he is competing for Beastar and against Louis. Can you imagine what will happen if a carnivore gets chosen_." Sage deduced that the one saying he was a threat to society was the zebra.

The angora goat replied to the zebra, "_You can't just say that about him, Ellen, you've never even seen him or even talked to him. Ever since Tem died you have been so afraid of carnivores. I know that if you talk to him, he will be very on-going about it_."

"_What makes you want to believe that, Els-chan?_"

The one Sage interpreted as Els was quiet for a moment. She took a deep breath and continued talking to her friend. "_Legoshi is also a carnivore, but he is a kind gentlemen only if you are very open to them. Sage-san, he doesn't seem like the type to want to harm you now. I'm going to talk to him, okay?_"

"_Suit yourself, I'm going to avoid him_," Sage heard Ellen stated. Quite the bold assumption of her to say that carnivores are dangerous. That's just how she will be, Sage thought, it will be nearly impossible to change their hearts. Whatever happens, happens, Sage said to himself.

He felt someone tapping on his shoulders and he opened his eyes. _Probably that girl who wanted to talk about me_.

Els began with a smile and laugh," A sleepy boy, are you? I am kidding, is your name Sage?"

"Yea," he nodded. "Uh, I-I don't want to be rude or anything. I know your name is Els and your friend is Ellen, I heard the things you two were talking about," he confessed.

Els went completely silent and didn't know what to say back. "Um, well, I-I know she didn't mean it. It has been like that after Tem's death. She was very quick to accuse carnivores of Tem's death, but I know that not all carnivores are not that bad. Look at Legoshi, he is a kind gentleman."

"I know Legoshi is kind because he saved me one day. I also read about Tem in a news article. I am sorry for your losses, Legoshi told me about it too. We've all been through hardships before, I not one to judge books by their covers. Whatever Ellen-san believes is what she will believe for a long time and we can't change that. I've lost my oniisan and oneesan in the past due to unknown reasons, but she doesn't feel any real empathy." His main goal was to invoke a tragic memory into Els for Ellen to know about. Els was one to believe many stories, felt kind of bad for Sage.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she replied. Sage said not to worry about it since this is only the first day of practice and he was just seeing people for the first time. "It was not on purpose, but she has known about you." Els was turning around to talk to Ellen again, but Sage stopped her. "Why not?"

"I should be the one who tells her about myself, as a carnivore, not a herbivore," he answered. "I'm always relying on people to act or talk for my behalf while I should be the one who does so," Sage asked that Els would kindly allow him to do his own thing. He slowly walked up to Ellen, but she was already looking away and nervous at the sight of a carnivore. _I can tell she is afraid of me because I am a carnivore, she is quite talkative of saying bad things about carnivores but is afraid to look at them in the eyes. Maybe this was a bad idea_, he thought. Sage was not stopping and finally approached Ellen. "I can tell you are very scared, scared of carnivores and that you don't trust them in the slightest." His breathing was becoming unstable, but he was calming down slowly.

He was right on the spot because Ellen became slightly irritated and crossed her arms. "Yeah and what?" she replied rudely. "All carnivores are vicious people, they only know how to hunt and kill herbivores." This conversation made Legoshi look in their direction. He was not surprised at all to see Sage in a different behavior, probably the first time he has ever seen it.

"A philosophy that you created on your own, you will never overcome it," Sage refuted. His counterargument got into her head and Ellen started to question herself. However, she quickly reassured herself and got a hold of herself. Sage didn't stop there, "You believe that one carnivore that killed your classmate means that every carnivore on sight is the culprit. Some of us are trying to live our lives normally and people like you make it worse on us. Tell me, have you ever been in a situation where you've lost close friends or loved ones, like your family?" His words rang throughout the room as everyone looked over. The room went quiet after Sage completed his argument. He attacked her only using words and nothing violent or physical. "Don't be so quick to judge the opposite as a threat. I wanted to live a peaceful life with my siblings but they are gone forever." Ellen was silent and did not speak a word about carnivores that entire day.

Sage walked away from her and did not speak to her again. He felt kind of guilty for being rude but he spoke the truth about her. Even though she was a herbivore, she took it way too seriously. He talked to Els and apologized, "Excuse my behavior, I did not mean to be so blunt about it." Sage sat near one of the corners and pulled out a book on crime scenes. Els was quite bewildered toward him, but it was bound to happen. She moved passed it and continued doing what she initially had.

Everyone resumed their work and the doors opened up. As Legoshi was about to have a private chat with Sage, he too also looked over. "Ah, sorry I am late," said a girl. Juno appeared at the door and apologized for her tardiness. "I had to help a sloth to the restroom and it took a while," she giggled. The awkward silence was swiftly broken by the excitement of seeing Juno. She had promised to stay back keep up the room after practice. Shira took note of her behavior and appreciated her efforts. "Legoshi-senpai!" Juno only acknowledged Legoshi, which made the other members a bit jealous.

"Ah, hello, Juno-san," Legoshi replied.

He was then approached by her and then Juno saw Sage in the corner by himself. Sage looked back at her smiling and he smiled a bit to ignore the tension that happened earlier. "Were you scared? Sage-kun?" she waved at him. It made the other members even more disappointed that she notices both Legoshi and Sage instead of the others. However, she noticed that Sage sat in the corner and felt the concern to ask him what happened before she showed up. Juno went up to him and sat next to him, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing, Juno-san, just got into an argument with one of the members here about carnivores," Sage answered. "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Just allocate your hours into practice, I'll be reading my book." Juno nodded as she got up off the floor and practiced. _I'm glad she was nice enough to check up on me, normally people would not do that besides oneesan_. Still, he was trying to solve his problem from earlier today during class. It wasn't normal for him to be deviating in his mind. _I know it only happens when Juno shows up that I feel strange. Maybe Legoshi or Jack can answer my questions, I'll ask after practice ends_.

_Such a strange boy, Sage_, Juno thought. _I wonder how much of my dance is perfected and what part still needs some work. I should ask Legoshi or Louis about it sometime later._

* * *

_I can't believe Gouhin would argue against me like that. Those bastard lions have to die, they were the ones behind the murder of innocent herbivores. I remember seeing corpses being hung by their necks on top of that pillar_. The thought of seeing those gave Rikku a chilling shiver down her neck and back. It was dusk and approaching the night skies. She came back to challenge the Shishigumi once more in act of revenge for her friend, Aurelia. "I'll be the one who kills these guys, for you Aurelia." Rikku hid behind the walls and peaked out through the entrance. Everywhere she looked there was a guard watching that area. Their eyes were perfectly aligned so that they saw each other and most areas. There were not many places to hide since they could see every detail of their own hideout.

Rikku decided to scale up the walls and get inside the harder way. Unfortunately, it began to rain and the water started to upset her balance. Which caused her to slip and fall back onto the ground. _Damn it, ouch that hurt_. The rain turned the ground into mud that stained her clothing and fur. It ruined her plan because it would be too obvious that someone other than the lions had entered due to the footprints she left. She fled the hideout and devised another plan. To her luck, she was spotted by one of the lions who was coming back from the black market. He looked at in the eyes and asked what was she doing. "Why have you come here? Are you looking for trouble?"

She quickly jabbed his stomach, causing him to groan in pain and fall to the ground. Rikku followed up her attack with a kick to his face and then punched his crotch. "You should have never seen me." She threw out another punch but missed because the lion was able to dodge the attack and pushed her away from the hideout. The lion recovered himself and pounced onto her but Rikku ran quickly. They kept on moving further and further away. They fought in the rain and eventually they were in an alleyway outside the black market and in the city. _Where am I? We must have been fighting so long that we moved further away. Both of them were soaked in rain and both were exhausted for the continuous fight. _

"If we let you escape, you will just tell the outside where we are." He armed a gun and aimed it at Rikku's head. "We can't leave witnesses behind. You must die."

Rikku slowly and carefully reached for her back pocket. "I won't let you do that, because." She quickly threw the object from her pocket and struck the head of the lion. It instantly prevented him from pulling the gun's trigger and he dropped it. The lion saw the blood flowing out of his head and he was in a panicked state. There was a tiny sharp knife that struck his head. He dropped to his knees and fell to his side. "You will die before me. Shame, I thought lions were stronger." Rikku looked at the corpse and the knife. The blade itself was quite small and it was deep inside of him. It was going to be impossible to remove it without further opening the wound. Rikku fled the alley and ran to someplace safer. She felt different after killing that lion. The bloodlust of killing made her feel satisfied and she wanted to do more and more. Nevertheless, Rikku was in a bad spot and must remain hidden and if they spot the corpse. If not, she will won't be getting away with it. She thought about moving the body and disposing of it. However, she wasn't strong enough to even move it because male lions are heavy. "I'll just have to stay hidden for a while, can't let anyone know about this." Rikku covered her head with the hoodie she was wearing and ran far away.

* * *

A/N: Hey anyone reading this, sorry for the lack of posting. School has been very bothersome and I really wanted to write chapters like crazy. It'll be a bit better next time (hopefully) and I hope you all enjoy this story so far.


	5. What is Past is now Present

**Chapter 5: What is Past is Now Present**

* * *

Rikku stood by her little brother's side and held onto his shoulders. "Hey, I need you to understand this for me. It is very important that you understand this, Sage." The little wolf was concerned when she said those very words. It meant that something was going to happen to Rikku, but Sage let her speak for the meantime. He was always the quiet one, especially at a young age. He was only 13 at the time when Rikku talked to him, Rikku only being 19 years in age. "I know you'll be alone for a while, but I need to keep going to my job to support our lives. I'm sorry that you were not born with a good family, but I want to make it up by giving you something worthwhile in the future."

"I-I don't care about any of that, I am satisfied with you." Sage wanted Rikku to stay by his side, but she had to leave. "W-where are you going, oneesan? I don't want you to go anywhere, you are the only one I have left."

Rikku was quite saddened by his words, but there was no choice left for her. "I'm sorry, Sage, there isn't any other choice for me. I can't tell you about the work, but all I can say is that you'll be set for life from here on to the end of life. It's for your sake."

After traveling from overseas, Rikku had struggled to find a stable job due to not being native. She made her way to the exit of their home, where she would leave Sage alone for a long while. "Promise me that, you'll always be a good little brother and student from here to the end of time. I want you to make it into university so that you can start your special future with an amazing family. I want you to be happy with what you enjoy. Do it for your older brother, he taught you how to at least defend yourself when the time comes."

Sage was left in tears when Rikku told him all of that. "I-I promise," he ran toward Rikku and hugged her. "I will be the best little brother you ever had, I'll never forget you when you taught me how to learn and study. I'll impress you someday!"

Rikku smiled back with her tears shedding out of her eyes. "Thank you... Sage," she held her little brother one more time before heading out. Rikku opened the door and left home. "Stay safe, Sage, I won't be seeing you again for a long while."

The little wolf held his hands together next to his chest. "G-goodbye, oneesan, please stay safe." Rikku waved and she immediately walked out the house door. The door closed behind Rikku and Sage was left alone until the end of time. _She won't be coming back, wherever she is going. There will be bullying in the future, but I have to stay strong._

Rikku ran from home and quickly down the street not turning around to look at her home once more. _Sage, I am sorry, you won't be able to forgive me because this job is very reckless for someone like you to understand. Such a kind little boy, I cannot let him bear the truth about this world. It's too dangerous for someone with such a frail personality to see. _Rikku did not stop running until she reached her final destination. _I must go to that place, they call the Black Market. My client is there for a dangerous job, but the pay is substantial for Sage to continue his education and living. They know my little brother and me so well because we are both intelligent people. Sage has made a name for himself during his elementary years here in Japan. Later moving overseas to Europe, he was able to enroll in a private school for his junior high school years. We were recently able to move back to Japan once I was entitled to a job there. __I was sent a private message by someone named Kanna. Their message gave me quite a scare but it came with great value. A price that cannot be passed up if it meant getting my hands dirty. Enough for Sage and I to keep on surviving for the rest of our lives. It meant that I must maintain good standards for the boss and it'll be worthwhile._

_This job involved assassinating vital targets who were dangers to herbivores. I could not pass this up because I lost a friend recently due to feral carnivores. Aurelia, she was like a dear friend to me and Sage. She was there when we were in a time of need. I could not let that memory of her slip and vowed to eliminate those who dare oppose herbivores as food._

* * *

_A few days later..._

Sage woke up in the middle of the night feeling strange about his sleep. He checked his phone time as it was only 4:30 A.M

The bright screen had him even more awake than he was before. Sage started to think about what happened. _It's that strange dream, I cannot stop thinking about it. Rikku... I know you are still alive, but where are you? Please, I want to see you one more time. He lied back down onto his bed and closed his eyes. _Hours have passed and the sun was shining down onto the room's carpet floors. Now it was 8:00 A.M and only an hour before school. Sage must have overslept a bit more than usual due to waking up at an odd time.

"Good morning, Sage, I hope I wasn't a bother at night for you." Ryoma joked. Sage was zoned out thinking about that dream he had. It had him questioning what happened to his sister. "Sage?" Ryoma kept calling his name but he didn't answer back. The dog waved his hand in front of his face and finally a response.

"Huh? Oh, did you say something?" Sage replied.

Ryoma felt the need to ask a serious question. "Are you okay?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about me, I'll get ready on my own," Sage replied. Ryoma was the first to finish up and leave for class today. Sage brushed his teeth and washed up for the morning. _What was that dream? My sister, why is she in my thoughts now. I am sure she is gone forever, she isn't coming back. _He turned off the faucet and the water stopped flowing. Sage saw his reflection on the bathroom mirror, _the face of confusion. I've never felt such weird emotions for the first time. My best bet is to talk with Legoshi and Jack about my problems. Maybe then it will resolve on its own?_

He showed up to the cafeteria and waiting for him was Legoshi and Jack. Those two would normally be together so that Sage could speak with them. "Good morning, Legoshi, Jack-senpai." Sage came by with his breakfast and quickly he ate his food.

"Good morning, Sage," Jack said. "How do you like it here? What are your opinions about this school?"

Sage let out a tired sigh, "There isn't anything good or bad to talk about this school. I want to ask you some questions, b-because I never experienced these _things _before."

Legoshi's ears shot up and were ready to answer them. "What could it be?" As an older student, he wonders about the status of the younger students. Especially, Sage since he is more prone to getting beat up more often than other students. Also an intelligent and curious student.

"I get these weird dreams, it's about my sister, I know she is gone but I can't seem to forget her. A memory that is burned into my mind," he explained. What about this dream that made him ask questions, he wondered. Sage managed to leave a blank expression onto both Legoshi and Jack because they never had to experience something like this once. They added suggestions like keeping your mind away from those things by doing something else. Jack mentioned to Sage that he liked to read, so, therefore, Sage should read more to distract his mind. "That sounds great, I'll check in at the library later today."

Jack was glad it was settled, but what about the other thing Sage still has in his mind? "It's a weird feeling, I hear it's like an uncontrollable illness, something that makes you feel more anxious. Its symptoms are caused by looking or being near a person and body temperature usually raises, in a positive way." He tried his hardest to explain something even he didn't know. Being isolated in the comforts of his home with no communication from the outside. He remained unsure of what this thing could be. His silence had shown he was clueless about the emotions of other people.

Legoshi did not answer but Jack did. "I always say this to Legoshi, it's called love, I know he has one but he won't tell me about it." Jack started to laugh.

"Knock it off," Legoshi elbowed Jack. "It's good to have something like that on your mind. It gives you something to look forward too."

"So it's not an illness?" Sage continued.

Legoshi shook his head, "It makes you feel happy, well sort of. What made you ask this?"

"W-well, the other day, I had my eyes on someone and I started to feel different from their warmth and personality." He admitted to having trouble dealing with this emotion for the first time. "I felt... different the entire day."

Legoshi was happy for him, "That's a good thing, that person can help you with getting used to social interaction, whoever it is." Sage kept the name hidden until there was a good opportunity to speak. "We probably know who it could be but that is up to you to tell us. I don't want to ask for something very secretive from you." Sage was grateful for Legoshi's respect for privacy. The clock in school started to ring, the time was now 8:45 AM and classes were about to begin. "Ah, we should get going, don't want to be late for class." Legoshi and Jack got up, "See you after school, Sage-kun."

Onward to his math class where he met Juno the first time. He was quite glad to see her today this morning. Her energy was vastly different from his. She was full of it while Sage had nearly nothing. "Good morning, Sage, how are you doing?"

Her voice lit a smile onto Sage's face as he was happy. "Good morning, Juno-san, I'm doing great, glad to..." _wait, it's clearly right there!_

"Glad to what?" Juno said. She took her seat next to him and waited for a response.

"Glad to see you," he replied. _Why did I mess that up? Oh my gosh, she is never going to look at me the same again._

Juno giggled, "You are too kind, anyway, have you prepared for today's quiz? It's Friday and most of our quizzes are today."

_It's today?! Oh crap, I forgot all about it. Eh, don't worry about it I remember everything. I'll just look at my study guide beforehand and I'll be alright. _

As Juno searches through her bag, she could not find her study guide. "Dang, I must have misplaced my study sheet back in my dorm. Sage, could I borrow yours?"

Sage was left with multiple choices, help Juno, or remain selfish. "You can have it, I studied enough." Juno was thankful and resumed her preparations. _Well, there goes my study sheet, but at least Juno will have a good grade. I mean I should know all of this stuff by now. It's simple math, there shouldn't be any issues. _He was quite unfortunate when all the other students gathered around him. Increasing his anxiety by large margins. Sage was bombarded with many questions from many students. He was scared and nervous about the large numbers. There was no way to escape this feeling. He just wanted to run away and scream.

"Hey, give him some space," Juno spoke. "Sage is just one person, he won't be able to help everyone at once if you just surround him and scream questions." Her reputation at this school got everyone's attention and they all listened. Everyone sat back down and started to study on their own.

"T-thank you, Juno-san, I was gonna flip out if that continued any longer." Sage was very thankful for her speaking up. "I haven't been in large groups before and it has always been terrifying to me." Still, he tried to find a way to adjust to his new life in high school. Being around large crowds was not always his thing due to the amount of anxiety he gains from different perspectives.

She smiled back, "No problem, I'm always here for you."

_Juno... she is always there for me, must be that very thing I consider love. My heart has been racing the moment we chattered. She made me smile more than the usual amount after my losses. I feel happy by the sight of her, it's a strange thing. It's my first time feeling this way, such a happy sight._

His daydream was suddenly cut off by the teacher's appearance and quiz were handed out immediately. "You have 30 minutes to complete the quiz, you may begin when you receive the quiz. Sage stared at the piece of paper seeing the sight of math problems. He picked up his pencil and began immediately. Maybe it wasn't so bad without the study guide, he did have a bit of time to review last night. Well, if he didn't sleep late but he ended up fine in the morning. Sage finished up quickly within ten minutes of class time. He impressed some of the students with his quick wits and confidence for his answers. He just had that look on his face for completing early.

Time went by quickly as Juno and Sage moved onward to drama rehearsal. "I'll be right back, Juno-san, I need to find some things in my dorm." Sage took an alternative route back to his dorm when suddenly he bumped into another student. Both of them fell onto their bottoms and in slight pain. "Sorry," after looking back at the student, "Huh? Ryoma-san?"

"Sage?" he replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, I'm heading back to the dorm to grab some things. What about you," he replied.

"I'm a volunteer for the meteor festival coming up this month. I am apart of setting up stuff for different organizations that are attending." Since Ryoma cleans the room, he should be used to knowing how to set up and clean afterward. "I don't want to be late, see ya." Ryoma quickly dashes out of the school. Sage quickly went back to the dorm to find a certain book he left behind. He made it back in time, started to rethink his decisions. _Maybe I should attend the meteor festival when it comes_. Sage grabbed his textbook and returned back to the drama room.

* * *

Gouhin sighed at Rikku for the miserable actions she had poorly executed. "Are you stupid or what? You just murdered one of the Shishigumi members and now they are going to come after you." He couldn't risk having her stay to hide away from them. "I won't allow you here, you'll just make it harder to survive. You have to leave, now and never come back."

Rikku was left feeling rather betrayed, "I thought you would be the one who would help me find my little brother, but you are just nothing but a useless panda." Rikku grabbed her pack and left immediately into the black market. _I don't understand, he is such a worthless being. I learned absolutely nothing from him except for how aggressive I've become_. The black market residents stared at Rikku. They could sense that her emotions were off and something was going on with her. She tried to ignore them, but the fear got to her and she quickly ran away. _It was just one guy I killed, no one knows it was me. Damn it, it won't matter anyways, I have to leave this place_. "I'll just find my brother, there is no point in trying to hide the past. I killed someone, I just need to forget it all and find Sage."

The female wolf walked down into an unknown alley with no exits. "Damn it, I went the wrong way." She reached into her backpack to find her map. Rikku dug quickly inside but she didn't find anything like a piece of paper. "Crap, I must have lost it the other day." Unexpectedly, she was encountered by two male carnivores who were slightly taller than she was. A tiger and a fox stood behind her. Rikku turned her head, "What's up, I was just lost. If I went into somewhere prohibited, I apogize and I'm leaving right away." Rikku turned her self around and proceeded to bypass them. One of them pushed her back down and back towards the dead end. "What the hell what was that for?"

"We are not letting you leave." The tiger says to Rikku. He started to rub his fingers together to indicate a sort of bribery. "We'll let you go, only if you hand over some money." The other being, the fox was holding a metal pipe and readying for a beating. "If you don't comply with my orders, this will hurt a lot."

Rikku got herself up from the dirty ground. _These little shits, I hate being dirtied by anything_. "You sure about that? I guess I'll just take a beating." Rikku slowly started to grab her knives from her back pocket pack. "I don't have any money on me so." she says sarcastically. They didn't like her tone and proceeded to attack the wolf. The tiger threw out a punch but Rikku grabbed his fist and kicked his chest. The fox swung the metal pipe at Rikku. She backed off to dodge the attack. He kept on swinging the blunt object. Rikku ducked underneath the horizontal attack and right hooked his abdomen. It successfully made him disarm the pipe as it dropped to the ground. "I would suggest that you shouldn't make me any more filthy. I hate to have to clean up my clothes again."

The tiger and fox made another attempt to attack again. Just this time, Rikku threw her knives at their shoulders to give them an idea. She had tiny knives and got a single hit into both of their shoulders. Blood soaked in their clothes and created a tearing in it. Rikku was dangerous with this skill and advised them to back off. "You don't know me, but I will hurt you if I have too." Her threats made them stand down as they ran away from the alley. She quickly dusted herself off. "I'm glad that's over, now to find my little brother again." _I don't have many knives left, I'm have to fight with a knife and not just throw them_. Rikku opened her back pocket and counted all the knives that remain. "Only four of them left, what an unlucky number in a time like this." Rikku ran out of the alley and made her way out the black market.


	6. Flowers and the Gifted

**Chapter 6: Flowers and the Gifted**

* * *

_The Fourth Day of Rehearsal..._

Today was a strange day, there was nothing going on today. Everyone was either absent or somewhere else at the moment. Those who did come to rehearsal had been told it was canceled today. Though the ones who stayed decided to help each other with homework and reviews. That was all led by Sage, who did not purposely volunteer for being the tutor, despite being considered a prodigy. _Gosh, who was it that appointed me this? Gee, it was Legoshi, but at the least, he is looking out for his classmates_.

He was approached by Legoshi in the meantime. "Sage, how are you doing? It's day 4 of school and rehearsal, though weird things have happened today strangely."

"Um, well since you initially made me the tutor, I stayed back to help a bit." He originally wanted to study on his own because it felt better to him. Being alone and introverted made him feel safer. Legoshi wanted him to experience the outside more in order to get a feel in the environment.

Legoshi made an offer, "Come on, you will be alright, just stay a bit. I need a bit of help with this question. I'll be sure to help you out someday, you know."

Sage did have something in mind, but first, he checked the question. It was a biology question and quite simple for the gifted student. "It says, _what is the function of the circulatory system? _Well, if you noticed the body, we are made up of many organs, veins, arteries, etc. Mainly focus on the heart, veins, arteries. The heart pumps oxygenated blood through the arteries and deoxygenated blood through the veins. In short, the circulatory system's function is to circulate blood throughout the body." It was quite a long explanation that left Legoshi in a blank emotion. "Legoshi-senpai?" Sage tapped his body.

"I'm so confused, how about something simpler?" he asked.

Sage sarcastically laughed, "Y-yeah, the function is moving blood through the body. But do keep my explanation in mind because that is what the teachers want to hear." Sage moved onward to Legoshi's next question. "Maybe biology isn't the best course for you, but maybe math is better. It's not like they placed me in higher levels during my childhood," he chuckled.

There was a triangle that had sides B and C labeled but a missing A. B is labeled as 5 while C is labeled as 13. "This should not be crazy. Stay with me, Legoshi-senpai." Sage wrote down the given variables on a paper and slowly went through with Legoshi. "Our goal is to define what A is given 5 and 13. This is a special kind of triangle known as a right triangle. What is the name of that formula?"

"I know it, we learned it last year, Pythagorean Theorem, where two side lengths of a triangle equal the diagonal side." They went on to discuss how this level of math was simple for Sage but not simple enough for Legoshi. However, they did manage to get some practice out of it for Legoshi to understand the concept.

* * *

Sage closed up his book and packed up his things. There was nothing else left to do in practice today. He was already done with the technical work, it was simple enough for him to do. He got up and walked to the exit, but he turned around before leaving. "I can't stay here a-any longer, I've got a quiz to study for tomorrow." Sage then bowed and said his farewells, "Have a good evening," as he left immediately.

It was getting pretty late, the day was coming to an end. Just hours away until midnight and the next day. Sage walked silently down the hallways toward the exits. Unfortunately, he bumped into a smaller and frail student. Both him and that student fell to the ground, surprising Sage even fell down despite being a larger person. "Ah... I am so sorry. Please forgive me." Sage quickly dusted himself off from the ground and he saw a white-dwarf rabbit in front of him. She had a flower pot in her hands, it also broke because of the bump.

"You should really watch where you are going," she sighed. "It's whatever, I am okay to the very least." The rabbit looked up and saw the wolf's eyes. "Oh, I thought you were someone else, but it's like I've seen you before." This rabbit got a closer look at Sage, wondering who he was at the very least. Sage was quite surprised when a little rabbit was checking him out.

"It's probably nothing, don't worry about it," he said. "Are you in the gardening club by any chance?"

The rabbit nodded, "Why yes, I am **the **only member in the gardening club. What, are you looking to join or something? If not, quit wasting my time because I have important matters to attend."

Sage twaddled his hands together, "Of course, I wanted to further learn about flowers from an expert florist. I heard there was someone by the name Haru-san, a white-dwarf rabbit, and you seem to fit the description."

"I am surprised, who told you all of this? The headmaster?" she responded.

He nodded back, "Y-yeah, he mentioned there were a variety of clubs, but in a case like this, we are two different species. Herbivore and carnivore, that is considered highly dangerous by society. Everyone will believe that I am a danger," he explained.

"People are delusional, it's hard to believe them in a time like this. Say, what is your name, since you already know mine?" Haru replied.

"Uh... Sage, my name is Sage." the wolf replied.

"Sage, well congratulations, you will be my junior when it comes to flowers. What made you decide on the gardening club, Sage?" Haru asked. Her innocent face lit up Sage's day a bit after that incident with Ellen earlier today.

_She is a strange one to be normal with a carnivore. But I don't pose a threat because I am not huge like Legoshi or Bill. I am much smaller, around Juno's size, much smaller body too. _"Um... I want to grow flowers for my older sister, Haru-san,' he answered.

The two students kept on walking up the stairs to the top floor. "Your sister? That's lovely to hear, what kind of flowers does she like?" Haru opened the door to the gardening area and the sunset shone in their eyes. It brightened up their eyes a bit more to see Haru's dark eyes and Sage's grey eyes.

He could not respond to the question in a timely manner due to his situation. He knew his sister was gone, but unsure if she had died or still alive but lost. He didn't know what to say and remained silent. Haru began to question his silence, "Is there something wrong?" Haru said, but Sage remained quiet, unsure of what he could potentially say to release the tension building up. _His face, he's lost in his thoughts, he has been through something tragic_, Haru thought to herself.

_I need to say something, otherwise, she won't be able to help me... _"N-no, there isn't anything wrong, it's just that... my sister, she went missing years ago and I always wanted to see her return someday. Her name was Rikku, and she taught me basic education that is why I exist at this school. I wanted to ask if I could grow some flowers, to use as a prayer for her safe return." Sage finally answered back to Haru. "If you do not know, everyone knows me as a prodigy student, but I wanted to live a happy life as normal people do. I have only told a few people about my past, but everyone in my family has disappeared from my life. I'm the only one left to take care of myself." Never seen his parents, stayed next to his older brother during a dark time, and the mysterious disappearance of his older sister. "Oh, sorry about that, I got lost in my mind. It's been rough not knowing what will happen to anyone."

_This guy is weird, but can't be like Legoshi. I guess we can't be so judgemental of other people. _"Don't worry, let's get you what you need at the very least," she offered. Haru has a packet of various seeds in her hands. She explained that with the amount of funding she had, this was all that was available. Sage counted at least ten different packets and continuing a bit more to around fifteen. "You can pick anyone that catches your attention. Then we can start working on it."

Sage carefully read the names on each packet. That was taking a bit longer than he expected. So he chose the one with a special image. He selected his desired flower, a White Lotus. "I believe my sister enjoyed these back at my old home."

* * *

Now that practice had ended, the only student or member left inside was Juno. She stayed back in order to make up for the tardy she had earlier. Surprisingly, the room was empty and dimly lit because of only one light was on. Juno swept through floors and she was enjoying the moment. Humming to her heart's content. _This lighting makes for a good environment. Who wouldn't enjoy this?_

The door suddenly opens and there was a deer revealing himself. "Juno-san? Why haven't you left yet? Everyone is already gone for the night." Louis was quite intrigued that someone would still be here in the evening.

She giggled, "Well you see, I was tardy today and I wanted to make up for it by cleaning up the room. There isn't anything wrong with that right?"

"I understand, but wouldn't it be better if you had all the lights on?" It was merely a suggestion made by Louis. However, Juno was still doing a fine job of cleaning in the darkness.

"Um, I kind of like the dark. It's natural for carnivores because we are nocturnal," she replied. Juno had been thinking of nothing but her dance she had been practicing. "Can you help me with my dance? I want to perfect every form."

Louis agreed, "Sure thing, just show me what you have so far." _She is such a strange being, what is it that she wants? _Louis began counting numbers as beats, "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3..." and so one. He watched her every movement and carefully took note of each step she made. Juno swayed her arms and legs in harmonious motions. Louis stopped her at one instance where she made a slight misstep. "You must apply more effort to that."

"Did I rush somewhere?" she replied.

"It was more, too sloppy. Your form will only captivate the audience but it will not be in sync with your classmates," he answered. "As long as you enjoy your own dance, the males will love it and so forth," he rudely joked. Perfection was considered an understatement for Juno as said by Louis.

Juno looked back confusedly, "W-what is that suppose to mean?"

Louis realizing he had made a terrible insult, he apologized and admitted to sounding prejudicial. "Forgive me, that did not come out properly."

Her face changed to slight anger, "I don't mind, but what I believe is that." She had grabbed his hands with her own. "Is that you hate me is it?" Juno pushed him back and pinned him to the ground. "No... you hate all carnivores, don't you?"

Louis made an attempt to get back up, but Juno's strength proved otherwise. He was not getting up against a carnivore. "What is on your mind? Are you trying to kiss me?"

"No..." Juno replied. "If I did, it would most likely trigger my predatory instincts to devour you whole. It would be disheartening to even think about it. I have no reason to even like you. I like Legoshi more." Juno was getting lower and lower toward Louis. "Listen carefully, my goal is to become the next Beastar. I want peace for all carnivores and then I'll have Legoshi."

The red deer tried one more time to resist against Juno's strength. "I see, you made your point."

Juno released her hand grip and pulled Louis up. "I hate to bear my fangs against you. All-female wolves are like that, we do not like fighting."

"Yeah... just that there is something wrong with your theory," he exclaimed. "Greed, you show high levels of greed. Something like that would change the story. Comes from your confidence, beauty, men, and reputation. You surely have the beauty but I can hinder your chances of having a reputation. As for men, Legoshi is something else."

Juno felt indifferent about that statement. "What makes you believe that? I'll get him to notice me!"

"Hmph, you say that, but eventually you'll notice how difficult it is to attract him," Louis responded. Louis got up and left immediately. Juno had mixed emotions with what she was going to experience. She was still determined to make things go in her favor at the least.

* * *

Sage made it back to his dorm room at a pretty late time. However, it was empty and no one was even here. "Where is Ryoma? He is normally here at night and usually just sleeping." Sage walked around the dark room looking for the brown dog. There isn't anyone else inside this room. Sage quickly flipped on the light switch to his room to reveal everything inside. Everything was spotless and neat, with no messy spots or anything. There was a note sitting on top of the desk at the end of the room. It was written in perfect black cursive writing. He grabbed the note and read it to himself.

_Hey Sage, if you are reading this, I am at the meteor festival tonight to help prepare for it in the future. If you need anything, just stop by and find me,  
-Ryoma_

_So that is where he is, _Sage set the note back down on the desk. He quickly threw his bag onto his bed and quickly set out. "_I forgot that everyone has gone down to the festival tonight. I should go check on them to see what happens._" Sage knows that all of the drama member students are attending and that Haru from the gardening club was also going. He opened the door again and checked the time outside. It was about to become night time within a few hours but there was ample time. Sage quickly set out to the festival, where the majority of the people he knew were going to be there. He had to be quick or else there won't be enough time for him to see everyone.

A first-time event for him to be going out at this time. Sage hoped if everything would look good even if it were not the real event. He ran through the streets carefully and making sure he doesn't collapse if he pushes himself too far. He took the law to a serious level and obeyed signals. Almost bumping into what it seems to be several different people, he still managed to make it safely.

Sage looked at his surroundings, there were lights hanging on wires. They were like lanterns, only powered by electricity. There were people who were preparing for the big arrival, only a few weeks before it happens. Sage went to find his group and anyone else he knew. He made sure not to collide with anyone or else he would have a rough time. He managed to find Haru who was sitting by her lonesome at the flower booth. "Haru-san?"

"Eh? Sage? What are you doing here," she asked.

He bowed to Haru, "Good evening, Haru-san, I came here to check on everyone I know." The evening night and the lit lanterns created a new type of environment. One that gave Sage a different feeling. A happy reminder of the present and also a grim reminder of his past. "I must get going to my classmates, I'll see you later, Haru-san." Haru wondered where the kid could be going, but he was off to an enjoyable year so she was glad. Sage waved and ran to find his drama club group. He managed to spot most of the members. Most noticeably Legoshi, Bill, and Juno as the main three. "I am here, you guys!"

"Hello, Sage," Legoshi spoke. Legoshi was glad to see that he showed up to the pre-festival. "You weren't afraid to come here by yourself now were you?" Sage nodded his head, he showed signs of better confidence than he before school began.

"What's up, Sage!" Bill shouted. Bill's confident voice grabbed Sage's attention toward him and slightly scared him a bit. It still showed a bit shyness inside of Sage as he tried to conquer it.

"Good evening, Sage," Juno said. Juno's calm voice reassured him that he is still good to go. Luckily, he was glad that Juno was there to slightly comfort him. "How was your day today?"

Sage answered happily, "It went really well, I feel excited to be here. My first time outside in public, something that isn't in my comfort zone."

Out of the blue, all the lights suddenly went out. The sound of screams drowned out the normal behavior of the drama club. All of the herbivores panicked in fear of being killed and none of them could see. Dom shouted, "Legoshi! Where are you, I can't see!" The peacock had his hand out and Legoshi grabbed onto it to keep him assured.

"I am here, don't be afraid," Legoshi replied. The carnivores surrounded the scared herbivores from an attack from outside their group. All of them had greater eyesight when it came to the night skies. All except for Sage, whose eyes were even worse at night due to at birth. A thought struck across Legoshi's mind as they were counting all the students. _What happened to Haru? _Legoshi turned to Sage and asked about her status, he answered that he was not sure about how she was now. Legoshi told Aoba to hold the group together and Legoshi rushed out to find Haru.

Sage didn't know where he was going and followed him through the sounds made by his voice. _Even if my sight is terrible, I can listen carefully to whoever is there. _Sage closed his eyes and listened to the noise that was made. He heard multiple screams from many panicking participants. A sudden fear rushed into his bones and Sage stopped moving for a moment. He couldn't move, the screaming from the people induced fear into him. _Not again... it can't happen again!_

* * *

A/N: Hey, it's me again, the delay of this chapter should have not happened. However, I took an extended break from writing for a long while. Due to school back in May and the COVID pandemic happening now, a lot of things have changed. I'll be getting back into writing very soon, but for now, I hope you enjoy reading this story. Stay safe and stay clean!


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